Episode Report Card Manimal: B | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Reckoning
By Manimal | Season 1 | Episode 6 | Aired on 11.17.2001
Sydney's Apartment of Memories That Only Shroud the Truth. She has several candles lit and is going through old photos and books. Some generic alt-rock with a super-persistent bass line plays. I would say it plays in the background, but it's so loud it almost blocks the dialogue.
Francie enters. She looks disheveled and is wearing standard catering gear: button-down white shirt, black tie, and vest. Seeing her in the uniform gives me a freaky high-school flashback. Yich. Sydney notes that she's home late. Francie tells her she was working at a Bar Association dinner, where a lawyer threatened to sue her over undercooked chicken. "Can you imagine that?" she says dryly. "An obnoxious lawyer." Sydney smiles sympathetically and then asks Francie about her own obnoxious lawyer, i.e. Charlie. Francie tells her that they're meeting for lunch, and that she knows Charlie's going to break up with her. Sydney points out that he didn't say that. Francie says that all the signs -- Charlie meeting with another woman, sneaking behind her back, lying -- point to a breakup. Sydney says that he wouldn't meet specifically for the purpose of breaking up, and that when guys want to get out of something, they just vanish. Sydney, the Cynic. Francie tries to change the topic, taking the photo Sydney has in her lap and commenting that Sydney's mom was really pretty. Sydney agrees, sadly, and thanks her. Francie hands the photo back to Sydney and tells her that she has to change, and that she feels a binge coming on. Francie pauses and asks Sydney how her trip went. Sydney tries to smile and says, "Not good. I was working with these people and...they were terminated." Francie shakes her head and says, "The economy sucks."
Oh my God. Oh my God! I can't believe this. I actually just saw a scene where the acting and dialogue felt natural, and nobody was forced to do the Exposition Dance. Am I dreaming? Am I high? Holy smokes! Someone get me a cold compress.
Generic alt-rock fades out as Sydney reads in bed. Phone rings. Helen Calder -- FBI agent Calder's widow -- says that Sydney left a message for her.
Cut to Widder Calder's house. Unfortunately, Calder didn't talk to his wife about his work much, and Widder Calder has replaced all of Calder's photos with pics of her new boyfriend. Sydney -- thinking that the new boyfriend is Calder -- says that he looks nice. Widder Calder says that he is, and then realizes that Sydney has the wrong idea. She takes out a photo of Bentley Calder -- hidden in a drawer -- and shows it to Sydney, saying he wasn't so nice. Sydney looks intently at the photo, like she's trying to burn it with her eyes. Sydney asks the Widder for a copy. Cut to the photo. At first I thought maybe it was a young Sloane, or something, because there's an extremely superficial resemblance, but boy, was I wrong.